Meursault: The Outsider Meursault is the stranger of the title. He is strange to himself. He does not feel what society expects him to feel. When his mother dies, he takes the bus to her nursing home. He drinks coffee. He smokes. He sleeps. He does not cry. At the funeral, he feels nothing. The other mourners judge him. He does not care. He is not a monster. He is just indifferent. He lives in the present. He does not think about the past. He does not plan for the future. He eats, sleeps, swims, has sex, and watches the street. He is happy. He is also horrifying.
The Murder: The Sun as Motive Meursault kills an Arab man on the beach. The man is the brother of his neighbor’s mistress. There is a fight. Meursault has a gun. He walks toward the man. The sun is in his eyes. He feels the heat. He feels the sweat. He pulls the trigger. He shoots four more times. The murder has no motive. Camus is showing that life is meaningless. People kill each other for no reason. The justice system cannot accept this. It needs a motive. It invents one. The prosecutor argues that Meursault is a monster. He did not cry at his mother’s funeral. Therefore, he is capable of murder. The logic is absurd. But it convicts him.
The Trial: Society Condemns the Outsider The trial is the center of the novel. Meursault is not tried for murder. He is tried for not crying. The prosecutor brings up his mother’s funeral. He brings up the day Meursault spent swimming with his girlfriend afterward. He argues that Meursault has no soul. The jury agrees. They sentence him to death. Meursault is not surprised. He knows that society hates outsiders. He knows that he will be punished for his honesty. He accepts the sentence. He does not appeal.
The Chaplain: The Refusal of God A chaplain visits Meursault in prison. He asks Meursault to repent. He asks him to pray. He asks him to believe in God. Meursault refuses. He does not believe. He does not need to believe. He is not afraid of death. The chaplain is horrified. He says that all men believe. Meursault says that he does not. The chaplain leaves. Meursault feels peace. He has been true to himself. He will die as he lived: without illusion.
The Ending: Acceptance of the Absurd On the night before his execution, Meursault thinks about death. He thinks about his mother. He understands that she felt the same peace at the end of her life. He opens his heart to the “tender indifference of the world.” He feels that he has been happy. He is still happy. He hopes that a crowd will greet him with cries of hatred on the day of his execution. The novel ends. The reader is shocked. The reader is moved. Meursault is a monster, but he is also a saint. He accepts the absurd. He does not flinch.
Conclusion: “The Stranger” is a novel about a man who kills another man for no reason. It is also a novel about a man who refuses to lie. Meursault will not pretend to grieve. He will not pretend to believe. He will not pretend that his life has meaning. He is honest. The world punishes him. Camus is not advocating murder. He is advocating honesty. The honest man is a stranger. The world hates strangers. The world kills them. That is the absurd.
